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Excersus LXXIV: I Wish I May, I Wish for Might
This seems like the place to talk about Jung, but I've done enough of that over at Frederick the Great and, it being a lovely evening, I'd rather not go into that part of my, let's just say soul, for the moment. So, instead, let's talk about death and why it's awesome. Don't get me wrong, as I've said, if I had my druthers, I would prefer Not to die, as would, I am sure, everybody. The number of Christians willing to forego all medicine in order to get to Jesus sooner is pretty low - almost as if, deep down, they all know that this life is what is important, and leaving it is not going to be the trip to the celestial candy store that they have halfway convinced themselves of. There is a Mitchell and Webb sketch where Mitchell is infinitely pissed off at the idea that the next generation has a pretty good shot at immortality, meaning that we are the last generation who will Have To die. I get that - as grinchish as the thought is, I get it. But how romantic will we appear to those generations - how will they be able to comprehend the courage of our day to day existence, and what stories will they tell of us? It is, in a way, exciting to think of myself as the subject of an immortal race's breathless fascination - that my grandchildren will look at me, remembering every detail of Aging having its way with me, and that, in those last moments, the way I carry myself might tell something to them more fundamental about humanity than a thousand years of my words might. There is hardly a greater gift to the world than a meaningful and well-handled death - nothing more consoling and astounding than how a human, at his best, lays aside Everything and lets time march past him.
- Count Dolby von Luckner
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